The man accused of running the most dangerous criminal gangs of the crime-infested area of Lyari, Uzair Jan Baloch, has wriggled out of most of the anti-terrorism cases registered against him at various police stations.
Baloch, was arrested by Sindh Rangers in 2016 during an operation on the outskirts of Karachi.
Partly due to the loopholes in the legal system and partly due to lack of interest show by the police and the prosecution branch, the investigating authorities are failing to present incriminating evidence against Baloch in the courts.
Dubbed as 'gang war leader' Baloch, has been acquitted in the cases under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) after the prosecution failed to prove charges against him.
His defence counsel Abid Zaman Advocate, told The Express Tribune that 36 cases were registered against Uzair under the ATA. The cases were registered under the provisions of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, police encounter and possession of illegal arms and explosives.
Among the 15 pending cases, the Arshad Pappu murder case and the case of abduction and murder of jail police officers and recovery of arms are important.
Abid Zaman Advocate said that there are more than 30 witnesses in the Arshad Pappu case, out of which the statements of 15 witnesses have been recorded. The statement of the investigating officer is likely to be recorded at the next hearing.
He said that the case of kidnapping of four prison police officers is also under hearing in which the statements of the witnesses are being recorded.
Apart from this, the case property of the arms recovery case in Nabi Bukhsh police station has been destroyed in the recent fire in City Court custody house. This was revealed by the DSR of Rangers while recording his statement in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Karachi.
The witness had said in the statement that the weapons, recovered from Garden area on the information of Uzair, were burnt in a fire in the warehouse of City Court Karachi.
A 90-day remand was obtained after the arrest of Uzair Baloch in 2016. LMGs, bullets, hand grenades, shells and launchers buried at a place were recovered in the Garden. All the weapons were sent for forensics as per regulations but the case property was gutted in a fire in the City Court warehouse.
Abid Zaman Advocate said that most of the cases are registered on the official complaints. In 21 cases out of 36, his client has been acquitted by special courts and in these cases the prosecution has failed to prove the charges.
On July 31, 2022, the special anti-terrorism court has acquitted his client Baloch in three cases.
Baloch was arrested in 2016 from a suburb of Karachi.
According to the sources, Baloch was in the custody of the army for three years and the proceedings of espionage cases against him were ongoing in the military court. This was the reason why the proceedings of dozens of cases against Uzair Baloch in the Sessions Court and the Special Anti-Terrorism Court were delayed.
In April 2017, he was handed over to army custody for court-martial proceedings. The military court convicted Baloch of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. After the completion of the military court proceedings, Baloch was returned to the custody of the Rangers in April 2020, after which the court was informed about his availability for hearing of the cases.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2022.
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